I don't know what you did in Vegas
by marytagus
Summary: Oliver and Felicity go to Las Vegas but something in Felicity's past is making her behave a bit strangely.


Oliver was quite happy as they got into Vegas. He loved the vibe of the Strip. He was well aware that Felicity didn't feel the same. She had been brought up in Las Vegas, she didn't saw the lights, she saw the glum behind them, the hard life people working in and on the Strip got, the losers that just went all the way and lost sometimes even their lives, he understood. It was a bit like when they had to flight through Hong Kong and it was the other way around.

He glimpsed at Felicity as the lights from the Strip came closer. If he didn't know it was impossible he would think she was getting smaller.

"Are you sure you want to stay at your mother's?"

"Yes. I'm sure."

For some reason he didn't thought that was the case but she was giving him the same answer over and over again.

Soon they were driving away from the Strip and Felicity was giving him directions.

"We're here."

It was a one story house with nothing remarkable on the outside as far as he could tell in the dimmed light of public street lighting.

Felicity opened the door with the key Donna had left for them. And he walked inside with the luggage. Felicity turned the lights on and Oliver found himself in a pure feminine environment. It was overwhelming, he couldn't help but feel a bit uncomfortable.

"Yeah I know. It's too much even for me. Come one, my room is different."  
He followed her to a room at the back of the house and as he got in he had to agree. It was different but quite overwhelming all the same. The room was dark, goth; moving from the rest of the house to this was like walking from light to darkness; looking from the room to the little woman he love was the exact opposite journey.

"This was your room?"

"I had a really goth and dark phase. I thought I told you about that?"

He nodded. Yeah she did but he just thought about a little goth phase like dark clothes, dark lipstick and really heavy dark eyeliner not full blown dark all around. The absence anything light colored in the room was shocking.

"You can drop the luggage here, Oliver."

He couldn't help it "I rather we stayed at Caesar's or Bellagio's"

"Oliver, please don't. We already discussed that. I won't agree to that."

"Why? Because of your mother?"

"No."

"Than what? What are you keeping from me, Felicity?"

He hated when she kept things from him. It was clear she wasn't feeling comfortable in her old room, as she was not comfortable in the rest of the house. Why did she insist in staying there? But she was the luggage from his hands had starting to open the bags.

Oliver tried another again with a softer voice "Felicity please can't you just tell me?"

Felicity sighed and sat on the bed facing him but not looking at him.

"I'm not allowed in any of the Casinos in Las Vegas."

He was speechless.

"What? Why?"

"I'm on their list. Their blacklist."

Oliver knelled in front her. "Can you tell me about that?"

"I was young, my mom was working. All the time she was working. I thought that maybe if we had more money she could stay home with me, at least a bit more." He heard the tears in her voice and he felt sad for that young girl, alone, needing her mother. Oliver gently took her hands and started caressing their backs with his thumbs.

"I had a knack for blackjack. It's just math really so I started playing. At first I lost, not a lot, I didn't have a lot, but enough to check all my tactics and theories and then one day I started winning. I was careful and I had some money already stacked when I went to Caesar's."

"Where your mom works?"

She nodded "It was all going fine until a guard came and asked for a word…" he knew the MO to deal with cards counters and cheaters but he let Felicity talk " …they made me sit in a room, no windows. I was scared, Oliver, so scared." He felt her tears now falling in her hands "In my mind I hadn't done anything wrong, I was taking advantage of my own capabilities, I wasn't cheating. When I heard the door unlocked I was in tears, Oliver, I thought they were going to beat me up or take to the desert and leave me there…" she was losing control over herself as she was re-living the all situation in her mind.

"Shh it's okay. You here, with me, safe"

"Instead of the goons I had seen so many times on the Casino Floor my mom came in. She scalded me so hard. But it was like I've seen an angel. My mom later told me one of the guards that was on duty recognized me in the security footage and he immediately reported who I was and they called my mom. She made me return all the money I had earn those last few days and from then on I'm blacklisted on all the Casinos. The youngest person to get in there." Why didn't that surprised him.

"Felicity they would allow you to stay at the Hotel they just wouldn't allow you to get into the floor."

"Are you sure?"

"Well I was never blacklisted from a Casino…"

"It's safer if we stay here."

He could tell she would be nervous all the time she'd stay in a Casino hotel "Let's get comfortable then." He got up and pull her into his arms drying her tears with his thumbs.

"Thank you. I love you." she kissed him he could taste the saltiness of her tears mixed in with her flavor which was becoming so familiar.

"Goth? Really dark evil goth? That you must tell me more about."

"Enough sharing for one day, Oliver. Besides before my mom comes back I would like to test if the bed is still safe."

"Still? How many times did you test this bed?"

She smiled while looking back at the bed and then back to him "Still an open tab. Want to join it?"

It bothered him but he was the one standing there and with plans of staying there for a long time so he figure it didn't matter "Don't mind if I do."


End file.
